AngularJS looks for dependencies in the locals object and getService(). If it doesn't find the dependency in either place, the dependency fails and you get an error.

It's interesting that you can bolt dependencies onto the locals object. The locals object is passed directly into the $controller() function so, if you are calling $controller() function directly, you can provide dependencies to the controller, even if those dependencies aren't AngularJS services.

The $controller() function itself looks like this:

/**

* @ngdoc service

* @name $controller

* @requires $injector

*

* @param {Function|string} constructor If called with a function

* then it's considered to be the controller constructor function.

* Otherwise it's considered to be a string which is used to

* retrieve the controller constructor using the following steps:

*

* * check if a controller with given name is registered via

* `$controllerProvider`

* * check if evaluating the string on the current scope returns

* a constructor

* * if $controllerProvider#allowGlobals, check

* `window[constructor]` on the global `window` object (not

* recommended)

*

* The string can use the `controller as property` syntax, where

* the controller instance is published as the specified property

* on the `scope`; the `scope` must be injected into `locals` param

* for this to work correctly.

*

* @param {Object} locals Injection locals for Controller.

* @return {Object} Instance of given controller.

*

* @description

* `$controller` service is responsible for instantiating

* controllers.

*

* It's just a simple call to {@link auto.$injector $injector}, but

* extracted into a service, so that one can override this service

* with [BC version](https://gist.github.com/1649788).

*/

return function(expression, locals, later, ident) {

// PRIVATE API:

// param `later` --- indicates that the controller's constructor

// is invoked at a later time. If true, $controller will

// allocate the object with the correct prototype chain, but

// will not invoke the controller until a returned callback is

// invoked.

// param `ident` --- An optional label which overrides the label

// parsed from the controller expression, if any.

var instance, match, constructor, identifier;

later = later === true;

if (ident && isString(ident)) {

identifier = ident;

}

if (isString(expression)) {

match = expression.match(CNTRL_REG);

if (!match) {

throw $controllerMinErr('ctrlfmt',

"Badly formed controller string '{0}'. " +

"Must match `__name__ as __id__` or `__name__`.",

expression);

}

constructor = match[1],

identifier = identifier || match[3];

expression = controllers.hasOwnProperty(constructor)

? controllers[constructor]

: getter(locals.$scope, constructor, true) ||

(globals ? getter($window, constructor, true) : undefined);

assertArgFn(expression, constructor, true);

}

if (later) {

// Instantiate controller later:

// This machinery is used to create an instance of the object

// before calling the controller's constructor itself.

//

// This allows properties to be added to the controller before

// the constructor isinvoked. Primarily, this is used for

// isolate scope bindings in $compile.

//

// This feature is not intended for use by applications, and is

// thus not documented publicly.

// Object creation: http://jsperf.com/create-constructor/2

var controllerPrototype = (isArray(expression) ?

expression[expression.length - 1] : expression).prototype;

instance = Object.create(controllerPrototype || null);

if (identifier) {

addIdentifier(locals, identifier, instance, constructor

|| expression.name);

}

var instantiate;

return instantiate = extend(function() {

var result = $injector.invoke(expression, instance, locals,

constructor); // resolve dependencies

if (result !== instance && (isObject(result)

|| isFunction(result))) {

instance = result;

if (identifier) {

// If result changed, re-assign controllerAs value to

// scope.

addIdentifier(locals, identifier, instance, constructor

|| expression.name);

}

}

return instance;

}, {

instance: instance,

identifier: identifier

});

}

instance = $injector.instantiate(expression, locals, constructor);

The $controller() function's first argument is expression. This is either a controller object or its a string with the controller's name. If it's a string with the controller's name, the $controller() function immediately looks up the controller object and sets expression equal to the object.

Then, the $controller() function chooses whether to create the object instance and return the constructor function to be called later (in green text) or to create the object instance and call the constructor immediately.

In our example, the constructor is called immediately.

But what happens if angularTemplateHtml contains additional controllers that are created by using the ng-controller attribute?

When $compile() function is invoked, it crawls through the angularTemplateHtml DOM tree using functions named nodeLinkFn(), childLinkFn() and compositeLinkFn() to find and instantiate AngularJS constructs, like controllers.

The compileFunc() function is created and returned by the $compile() call.

Inside AngularJS, the compileFunc() function looks like this:

return function publicLinkFn(scope, cloneConnectFn, options) {

assertArg(scope, 'scope');

options = options || {};

var parentBoundTranscludeFn = options.parentBoundTranscludeFn,

transcludeControllers = options.transcludeControllers,

futureParentElement = options.futureParentElement;

AngularJS crawls the angularTemplateHtml DOM tree during the $compile() function and, when it finds a ng-controller attribute, it invokes the setupControllers() function.

function setupControllers($element, attrs, transcludeFn,

controllerDirectives, isolateScope, scope) {

var elementControllers = createMap();

for (var controllerKey in controllerDirectives) {

var directive = controllerDirectives[controllerKey];

var locals = {

$scope: directive === newIsolateScopeDirective

|| directive.$$isolateScope ? isolateScope : scope,

$element: $element,

$attrs: attrs,

$transclude: transcludeFn

};

var controller = directive.controller;

if (controller == '@') {

controller = attrs[directive.name];

}

var controllerInstance = $controller(controller, locals, true,

directive.controllerAs);

Notice the bold purple text where the locals object is created by AngularJS when it finds an ng-controller attribute. While a child controller can access its parent's $scope for various purposes, a child controller's locals object is hardcoded, unavailable and unlinked to the parent controller's locals object! So, a parent controller cannot resolve dependencies for a child controller created by AngularJS. Wouldn't it be nice if a parent controller could use its locals object to provide dependency resolution and control over instantiation of its child controllers? But, it doesn't. Maybe next version.

Notice the orange highlighted true argument inside the setupControllers() function. The true argument allocates the controller instance but does not invoke the constructor immediately. It returns the constructor to be invoked later.